CJ Heard comes to West End following a productive Freshman season at Florida Atlantic. Though the team as a whole struggled (3-9), the 5’11” 200lbs product out of Woodward Academy in Atlanta was a bright spot on the defense. Vanderbilt is no stranger to Woodward Academy, having signed guys like Mike Wright, Taco Wright, and Errington Truesdell all from Woodward. Heard was a standout at Woodward, getting over 41 tackles, 6 PBU’s, a forced fumble, and an interception in his senior season. As a highly touted consensus 3 star recruit, Heard built quite an impressive offer list. Heard received over 50 offers, highlighted by programs such as: Florida State, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, and Texas.

As a freshman at FAU, CJ Heard caught eyes early. His physical play style helped him crack the rotation Game 1 where he recorded 2 solo tackles. Heard only got better as the season went on. As a true freshman, Heard would go on to amass 80 Total tackles, 53 of those being solo tackles and record a forced fumble against Army. On November 1st against USF Heard recorded a personal best 13 tackles and finished the season having recorded double digit tackles in 3 different games. From everything that I have read and watched of him, this dude kicks ass. He kicks so much ass his feet stink.

Heard is easy to locate on the field as his physical appearance also stands out. His long blonde dreadlocks resemble Corlys Velaryon “The Sea Snake” from House of the Dragon. It took one half of college football for Big10 announcers to make the connection. A few moments later, Chris Vannini of the Athletic took the striking resemblance to X where the nickname cemented itself.

His physical play style should allow Heard to make an immediate impact in run support from the safety position. Let’s see how the rest of the off-season goes before jumping to any conclusions on Heard, but it’s hard to not be optimistic about what he will add to what should be a strong secondary in 2025. I am not sure if you can name him a lock to be a starter with guys like Randon Fontenette and Dontae Carter returning, but I have no doubt that we will see CJ Heard on the field plenty for the Commodores in the upcoming season.

With 3 years of eligibility left, Heard has plenty of time to carve out a role and become a crucial piece of this Vanderbilt secondary. I see Heard’s ceiling being a CJ Taylor/Kenny Ladler type of safety. Over the next couple of years look for Heard to become a physical force on the back end of the defense. I don't know about you, but I like the idea of “The Sea Snake” leading the defense in years to come. The future is bright for this young guy. Anchor Down